Aussie Gold outlook still bright

Gold, which attracted white settlers from the west and paved the way for modern Australia remained a key income generator for the country even today.

CANBERRA(BullionStreet): Gold production in Australia, one of the world's largest gold produces, would continued to maintain current levels despite a 5 percent drop in first quarter this year, according to Surbiton and Associates.

Inclement weather disrupted productions in Western Australia, where roughly 80 percent of Australia's gold is mined, it added.

In it's latest Gold Quarterly Review, Surbiton said just 63.5 tonnes of the shiny metal were pulled from the ground in the three months to March this year, but that amount is set to rise.

It said the recent decrease in gold price will see miners target higher grade ore in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), said outlook for Australia’s gold production and export market for the period to 2016 is strong.

Gold, which attracted white settlers from the west and paved the way for modern Australia remained a key income generator for the country even today.

It is the gold rush of the mid 1850's that changed the face of Australia. Before that, Australia’s combined white population was approximately 77,000 and most of those had been convicts sent by ship over the previous seventy years.

The gold rush completely changed that however. In the two years that followed Edward Hargraves’ discovery at Bathurst, Australia’s population increased to over 540,000. 370,000 immigrants arrived in Australia’s ports during the year 1852 alone.

The flow of convicts to Australia’s shores stopped. It suddenly seemed like a foolish idea (and indeed no longer a punishment) to give a free boat ride to Australia’s rich gold fields to anyone who had committed a crime.

Edward Hargreaves is often regarded as the father of the Australian Gold Rush and is also attributed with the invention of the cradle and the discovery of gold in Ballarat.

Hargreaves had previously worked on the goldfields of California, and was struck by the similarity of the geology and landscape of the Bathurst area to gold-rich California.

Since then, gold is playing a crucial role in Australia's economy ( Gold is Australia's second largest export earner after coal) and is well-placed to meet the extra demand of gold crazy Indians and Chinese, analysts said.

India is a fast-growing market for Australian gold, as the country’s increasing wealth means more Indians can afford gold jewellery.

Demand for Australian gold was largely dominated by India and the United Kingdom in 2010, accounting for 36.8 per cent and 35.9 per cent of total gold exports respectively.

They added that increased demand for gold is driving up supply in Australia’s mines and expected to rise at 4-5 percent per year.